Let's face it. We have to eat. Where we eat is an important decision as is the amount of money we want to consume as we do it. No doubt it is a lot easier to take the family out to dinner where someone else has made the food and will clean up after you. But realistically those meals out cost you 60% more than making them at home and eating at your own kitchen table. So, the first thing we need to consider is this; if making meals at home weren't such a difficult thing to do, and I was able to save lots of money doing it, could I make an effort to try to do meals at home more often?
The challenge that we face every day on the ride home is, "What can I make for dinner?" If you haven't planned for this, you probably don't have the necessary ingredients to do much more than take something out of the freezer and call it good enough. If you are trying to take a good look at ways to cut your expenses and increase your income, then planning, shopping for, and cooking your meals should be considered an extension of your work day.
Look at this scenario for example. It is Monday night, you worked a little longer than you probably should have considering the kids have soccer practice. It is 4:30 and when you drop them off for practice your cell rings reminding you that you volunteered to be the classroom Mom at your son's school which will require 1 hour and a half of contacting parents. You decide it would be easier to grab some pizza and bring it home so that you can get dinner over with and get on with the phone calls. The two large pizzas come to $28.00. An hour later your phone call gets interrupted by the kids asking for snack because they are still hungry.
Now same scenario, but this time you've put together a homemade beef stew in the crock pot before work and it is simmering on the shelf at home. All you have to do is pop a can of biscuits into the oven and your family gets to sit down together with little stress and more nutrients for a total of $9.
So this is where I will be posting my menu for the week. I am hoping to make this a regular post because menu planning is the KEY to cutting grocery costs. I am not always the most creative cook, but when I can, I will post the on-line recipes that I will be using that week. If the menu item is highlighted you can click on it and it will link you to the recipe. You'll notice that we try to eat two or three meatless meals a week, which makes the budget stretch ever further.
Even though it is already Wednesday, I'll post our menu for this week and then get these out on Mondays from now on. I hope it will give you some ideas for creating your own weekly menu. If you want more menu ideas go to www.orgjunkie.com where dozens of bloggers post and share their menus every Monday.
Monday, boneless pork chops, frozen beans, and rice pilaf
Tuesday, lemon pepper catfish fillets, steamed potatoes, mixed vegetables
Wednesday, beef stew, biscuits (using the roast for stew meat) pb cookies
Thursday, bean and rice burritos, homemade tortillas, corn
Friday, homemade Shake and Bake chicken fingers, salad, cantaloupe
Saturday, left overs, side of baked beans, canned peaches
Sunday, egg strata, homefries, fruit crisp
This week has been a hectic one since the weather has prevented the kids from going to school. It has been a lot of fun to hang out with them and get some extra cooking done though.
Remember we are on this journey together. See if you can come up with seven days of meals (they don't have to be fancy, we don't judge) and post them here each week.
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